I've often dreamed of escaping everyday life for a new kind of adventure. Living out in the wilderness for a few days to take some time to reflect upon myself and at the same time become part of nature by surrounding myself in it. As someone that surrounds themselves with technology and embraces everything modern living has to offer (that I have access to), this lifestyle change would be radical and something of a journey of self discovery for me. Very similar to that of the main character in Firewatch.
Set in the Yellowstone area 1989, one year after fires devastated the area; Henry is a man looking for escape from a difficult time in his life. His wife Julia is diagnosed with dementia and is moved to Melbourne to be with her parents whilst Henry takes up a job as a fire lookout to earn the money necessary to go out to Australia and visit her. After hiking to his watch tower, another lookout named Delilah introduces herself to him via walkie-talkie, the only way the two will ever communicate to each other. When several strange phenomena are discovered in the area, placing Henry and Delilah under surveillance from persons unknown, paranoia increases between the two lookout's and you must find out who is watching and why they are doing it.
Firewatch does an amazing job of laying the foundations for an amazing story in just a few minutes, placing the player into Henry's shoes as we experience his and Julia's entire relationship before the opening titles even roll. From the moment you venture out on your first lookout duties, Firewatch begins laying breadcrumbs of intrigue and slowly layers up a complex mystery that is ultimately reflective of Henry's current state of mind.
It's a story about people, about the beautiful and the cruel things humans do to each other, set to the backdrop of an atmospheric and beautifully dangerous expansive wilderness. Henry and Delilah are amazing characters with some of the most depth and humanity I have ever seen in video game characters. They are flawed, they are vulnerable and they have both isolated themselves from society for a reason, as you explore each others minds over the course of the game, you can imprint yourself onto the characters and truly understand what they are going through.
Gameplay in Firewatch is kind of hard to pin down. It's not an experience like Everybody's Gone To The Rapture or Dear Esther where all you do is walk. Yet there is not much in the way of puzzle solving, nor is there stealth, combat or even exploration. You do your job, to put it simply. You just do tasks that are set for you, but as you do these tasks more tasks are given to you that build to the mystery of the story. As you do this you communicate with Delilah using numerous dialogue options; allowing you to shape their relationship. My Henry was always quick to meet Delilah's sarcasm with a witty comeback or snarky comment. They had a very humour fuelled relationship, this gave the sombre moments real impact as it was a stark contrast from the funny, bubbly double act that these two had going on. Their conversations were genuinely funny too, more than once the game had me in stitches after an exchange the two were having. But at the same time it also had me experiencing severe lows when the paranoia was turned up to 11 or when one of the characters would share bad news with the other. It's an emotional dynamic that few games have ever managed to achieve properly, but is equal to titles such as The Last of Us.
Set in the Yellowstone area 1989, one year after fires devastated the area; Henry is a man looking for escape from a difficult time in his life. His wife Julia is diagnosed with dementia and is moved to Melbourne to be with her parents whilst Henry takes up a job as a fire lookout to earn the money necessary to go out to Australia and visit her. After hiking to his watch tower, another lookout named Delilah introduces herself to him via walkie-talkie, the only way the two will ever communicate to each other. When several strange phenomena are discovered in the area, placing Henry and Delilah under surveillance from persons unknown, paranoia increases between the two lookout's and you must find out who is watching and why they are doing it.
Firewatch does an amazing job of laying the foundations for an amazing story in just a few minutes, placing the player into Henry's shoes as we experience his and Julia's entire relationship before the opening titles even roll. From the moment you venture out on your first lookout duties, Firewatch begins laying breadcrumbs of intrigue and slowly layers up a complex mystery that is ultimately reflective of Henry's current state of mind.
It's a story about people, about the beautiful and the cruel things humans do to each other, set to the backdrop of an atmospheric and beautifully dangerous expansive wilderness. Henry and Delilah are amazing characters with some of the most depth and humanity I have ever seen in video game characters. They are flawed, they are vulnerable and they have both isolated themselves from society for a reason, as you explore each others minds over the course of the game, you can imprint yourself onto the characters and truly understand what they are going through.
Gameplay in Firewatch is kind of hard to pin down. It's not an experience like Everybody's Gone To The Rapture or Dear Esther where all you do is walk. Yet there is not much in the way of puzzle solving, nor is there stealth, combat or even exploration. You do your job, to put it simply. You just do tasks that are set for you, but as you do these tasks more tasks are given to you that build to the mystery of the story. As you do this you communicate with Delilah using numerous dialogue options; allowing you to shape their relationship. My Henry was always quick to meet Delilah's sarcasm with a witty comeback or snarky comment. They had a very humour fuelled relationship, this gave the sombre moments real impact as it was a stark contrast from the funny, bubbly double act that these two had going on. Their conversations were genuinely funny too, more than once the game had me in stitches after an exchange the two were having. But at the same time it also had me experiencing severe lows when the paranoia was turned up to 11 or when one of the characters would share bad news with the other. It's an emotional dynamic that few games have ever managed to achieve properly, but is equal to titles such as The Last of Us.
Visually Firewatch is gorgeous. It has a slightly cartoony, minimalist visual style though this only accentuates the beauty of the wilderness. Had the game been presented in a photo-realistic style it would have put across a very different atmosphere, one that would have been out of place with the story. It gives the game an element of fantasy among it's other very realistic parts; posing the question of whether the series of events that take place in the game really ever happened to Henry, or if they were all a figment of his imagination caused by his wife's dementia and his close shave with alcoholism.
The audio work is also fantastic. The wilderness is bustling with insect noises as well as the sound of overhead birds and larger creatures moving around in the bushes. There's also an incredible acoustic soundtrack that will changes based on whether the part of the game is a lighter or darker tone. The vocal work is some of the best this year, with every character in the game truly brought to life by the talented cast delivering their lines. For a game where it's a rare occurrence to actually see another person, it's a truly commendable thing to have brought characters to life using only the voice.
After all this praise I do need to bring in the bad news a little though. Firewatch is pretty short coming in at around 6 hours long, and there is nothing else to do in the non-linear game world besides progress the story. The ending is also pretty anticlimactic; after a series of great plot twists everything just falls pretty flat and feels like it was rushed into a resolution rather than letting it play out more naturally over time. The motivations behind the person scaring Henry and Delilah are very poorly thought out and it seems like they would have saved themselves a lot of trouble by just not harassing them and it would have led to the same conclusion, or perhaps a better one for them.
As a whole though Firewatch is superb. A must play and one of the best games of the year so far. It cannot be understated how well Firewatch executes almost everything and how well everything fits together. You and Henry are going on the same emotional journey, learning about yourselves as you go. How things end between Henry and Delilah has the potential to be absolutely heartbreaking if you invest yourself into the characters. A harsh slap from reality that Henry and Delilah must at some point return home to face their demons instead of running away from them is the games crowning jewel and it should be experienced by as many people as possible.
The audio work is also fantastic. The wilderness is bustling with insect noises as well as the sound of overhead birds and larger creatures moving around in the bushes. There's also an incredible acoustic soundtrack that will changes based on whether the part of the game is a lighter or darker tone. The vocal work is some of the best this year, with every character in the game truly brought to life by the talented cast delivering their lines. For a game where it's a rare occurrence to actually see another person, it's a truly commendable thing to have brought characters to life using only the voice.
After all this praise I do need to bring in the bad news a little though. Firewatch is pretty short coming in at around 6 hours long, and there is nothing else to do in the non-linear game world besides progress the story. The ending is also pretty anticlimactic; after a series of great plot twists everything just falls pretty flat and feels like it was rushed into a resolution rather than letting it play out more naturally over time. The motivations behind the person scaring Henry and Delilah are very poorly thought out and it seems like they would have saved themselves a lot of trouble by just not harassing them and it would have led to the same conclusion, or perhaps a better one for them.
As a whole though Firewatch is superb. A must play and one of the best games of the year so far. It cannot be understated how well Firewatch executes almost everything and how well everything fits together. You and Henry are going on the same emotional journey, learning about yourselves as you go. How things end between Henry and Delilah has the potential to be absolutely heartbreaking if you invest yourself into the characters. A harsh slap from reality that Henry and Delilah must at some point return home to face their demons instead of running away from them is the games crowning jewel and it should be experienced by as many people as possible.
STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
PRESENTATION: 8/10
LIFESPAN: 5/10
SCORE: 8/10
If you have not played this game yet, you're seriously missing out.